Mary Wilson

Post Gazette reporter Chris Potter discusses issues in the city of Pittsburgh in 2015.

It's a year in review special "2015: Looking Back, Looking Ahead" as we look back at the significant events that have shaped our lives in the past year and what we'll have to look forward to in 2016. We'll look at the top local stories with Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reporter Chris Potter, the big state and regional stories with Capitol Correspondent Mary Wilson and Harrisburg Patriot News and Penn Live Opinions editor John Micek, and the national and world scene with award winning Post-Gazette columnist Tony Norman.

Amid hopes that the long overdue state budget would be completed this past weekend a tentative agreement has fallen apart. Capitol reporter Mary Wilson joins us with the latest on the state budget stalemate.

The PA Society political bash was held this weekend but many lawmakers said they were avoiding the event because of concerns that their attendance would be a liability with the budget five months overdue. Governor Wolf scrubbed his plans to go. "If there's no budget, I'm not going to be up in New York," said Wolf. So, are we any closer to having a state budget? We'll check in with capitol correspondent Mary Wilson.

It’s been almost 150 days since the July 1st budget deadline and after the protracted budget stalemate between Governor Wolf and the legislature began dragging on for months, we heard it would all be worked out by Thanksgiving. With Thanksgiving tomorrow and little prospect for a compromise, we turn to 90.5 WESA Capitol reporter Mary Wilson to see what’s happening in Harrisburg and what issues are tying up budget negotiations.

Former Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord pleaded guilty Tuesday to two federal counts of attempted extortion, admitting that he tried to use the position of his office to strong-arm state contractors into donating money to his failed gubernatorial campaign.

Now that former Pennsylvania Treasurer Rob McCord has admitted using the influence of his office to get money from prospective donors to his gubernatorial campaign, what happens next? And what does his resignation mean for the future of the state? Capitol correspondent Mary Wilson provides her analysis and her forecast for Harrisburg’s political climate to come.

Supporters of legalizing medical marijuana in Pennsylvania hoped a meeting with Governor Corbett might change his stance on the issue. These advocates threatened a sit-in if the governor refused to see them.

It looks like their threats paid off.

Despite a recent Quinnipiac University poll which showed 85% of Pennsylvania voters support the legalization of medical marijuana, 90.5 WESA Capitol Correspondent Mary Wilson said Corbett remained steadfastly opposed, until this afternoon.

"Corbett is quoted in a press release this afternoon saying that he will support a bill to allow research based hospitals to prescribe this oil extract which is from the marijuana plant." said Wilson

"Of course it's going to need the approval of the legislature but the leader of the senate Republicans has said that he will support this. And that he looks forward to sending the bill to the governor's desk."

The state House Judiciary Committee released an agenda on five firearms related bills this week, including an approved measure that would make municipalities that pass gun restrictions susceptible to law suits.

90.5 WESA State Capitol correspondent Mary Wilson says under the municipality bill, challengers of local gun restrictions would have the legal standing necessary to ask for court review of an ordinance.

In the ongoing battle between the state of Pennsylvania and the opponents of the state’s controversial voter ID laws, it appears that the trial will drag on slower than expected. The root of this slow down in the Commonwealth Court case is, according to WESA capital correspondent and WITF reporter Mary Wilson, a spat between the court’s two sides over a list of roughly 500 people whose attempts to attain identification proved fruitless.